The Relationship Factor
by LukeIAmYourFath3R
Summary: Takes place in Nebraska. Leonard and Penny attend highschool together. Bad summary, but if you like it pleese review : it's my first fic :'


**Sorry for the lack of updates :/ I'm studing really hard for my upcomming Biology public exam worth 50% of my year D: but I promise I will update every few days :) if you like it, review pleese :D**

It was a cold rainy night in Omaha Nebraska. Leonard and Penny sat watching Star Wars: Episode 5 The Empire Strikes Back.

"So, uh how do you like it so far?" Leonard said nervously looking over at his gorgeous best friend.

"It's actually a really good movie!" Penny smiled at Leonard and she noticed him blush.

"That's good. Maybe we can watch the other episodes sometime!"

"That would be great!" Penny's eyes were glued on the movie.

It was at the scene where Yoda was telling a young Luke Skywalker the famous quote, "Do or do not, there is no try."

"That's a great quote! I'll have to remember that one!" Penny was smiling. She was truly astonished about how she was getting into Star Wars.

Leonard couldn't contain his happiness. His beautiful best friend actually liked Star Wars? Every time he looked over at her, her eyes were glued on Luke trying to use the force to get his X-wing out of the swamp.

About an hour later, the movie had ended.

"Oh my god, I can't believe how good that was!" Penny was beaming.

"Yeah, one of my favorite movies."

"Darth Vader was all like, Luke I am your Father! Then Han Solo gets frozen in that thingy! What a great movie! We have to watch the next episode!" Penny was smiling.

"You mean carbonate? I agree great movie! You really want to watch episode 6?" Leonard said as he took the VHS out of the vcr.

"Yes! For sure. I want to know what happens to Han Solo!" Penny said.

Leonard smiled and popped Episode 6: Return Of The Jedi in the old vhs.

Leonard opened his eyes the next morning. He was sprawled across Penny's chest. He could see a tiny bit of the red lacy bra she had on underneath her tank top. Oh god. Oh god, he thought to himself. We must've fallen asleep. Despite him being awake, he never moved. He closed his eyes and inhaled her amazing smell. Vanilla oil. They lay there for about 20 minutes before Penny eventually woke up. Leonard pretended to be asleep. She must have waited 5 minutes before she said,

"Uh Leonard." She said while tapping his shoulder.  
Leonard opened his eyes, pretending to just have woken up. He felt his face turn hot.

"Uh, I'm – uh Penny, I'm sorry I never uh realized-"Leonard's face was redder then a strawberry.

"Leonard, it's cool we just fell asleep. It's all good." Penny said.

"I'm uh sorry for um falling asleep on your um chest though." Leonard said. He could hardly look Penny in the eye.

"Don't worry about it! But I guess we never got to finish watching Episode 6." Penny frowned.

"I guess not. But we can always watch it now if you want." Leonard said with hope in his voice.

"I can't, I'm going to go home and get a shower, then going to Steph's. How about next weekend?"

"Sure, it's a date!" Leonard had just realized what he said.

"Uh, I mean a date between friends. Like a friend date. 2 friends watching Star Wars, nothing more." Smooth Leonard, Smooth he thought to himself.

Penny giggled and then stood up putting her jacket on.

"Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow." She shot her gorgeous smile at Leonard.

"Yeah for sure."

Penny gave Leonard a quick hug on her way out. He inhaled her vanilla oil smell once more. Oh god. He thought to himself. She was just perfect in every way. Leonard finally got up and decided to grab a shower. While he let the warm water run over his body he couldn't help but think of Penny in the shower. He still was shocked about how she liked Star Wars. He couldn't wait to watch Episode 6 with her next weekend.

Monday dragged on slowly. Leonard slowly but  
surely got though his classes. He couldn't wait for the weekend. When the lunch bell rang, Leonard looked for Penny, but she was no were to be found. He turned around to see Penny walking down the hall with Daniel. The captain of the hockey team. They were laughing and smiling. Leonard felt his stomach twist. Why? He asked himself? Why do I care if Penny's with Dan? It's not like I like her. Leonard knew he didn`t like her. They'd been best friends since before they even started school. He started to drift back to the moment they had first kissed.

It was in grade 6. They were in Leonard's backyard. Sitting by the tall oak tree, looking up at the stars. They talked about how a first kiss should be. How it was supposed to be a magical moment that lifted you off the ground. Leonard remembered staring into her deep green eyes. He remembered how they awkwardly edged closer to one another, until every gap between them was filled. He remembered their lips meeting for almost 6 Mississippi's. They pulled away. No one said anything. Just silence.

Leonard snapped out of his flashback when Penny came over to talk to him.

"Hey Leonard." She smiled at him.

"Penny, I'll go grab us some lunch. Meet me in the cafeteria whenever you're ready." Daniel said walking away.

"Hey, what's up?" Leonard said jamming his books into his locker.

"Dreading 5'th period chemistry after lunch." Penny said frowning.

"Why is that now?" Leonard said grinning.

"Well, I haven't started my 10 page assignment that's due next week, mainly because I'm not sure I understand it." Said a very frustrated Penny.

"That little thing? I was done long ago. If you want I can help you after school or whatever."

"Sure sounds good. Want to come over?" Penny said.

"Yeah, sure." Leonard said smiling at her.

"Well anyways, imp going to go get some lunch with Dan, you want to come along?"

"Nawh, that's fine. I'm having lunch with Roxanne and David." Leonard said.

"Alright, well c-ya later Leonard!" Penny walked away.

Leonard watched her walk away. He decided to head down to room 112 where David and Roxanne hang out.

"Hey Leonard, look what I've been working on!" David said pointing to a contraption.

David was always building different contraptions. He really wanted to be an Engineer someday. He was sitting with Roxanne, who was looking over some blueprints of David's latest contraption.

"Whoa, what did you build this time David?" Leonard said sitting down next to Roxanne.

"It's a robotic arm! It's designed to make life easier, and mainly when I'm gaming and some stuff is out of reach." David said chuckling.

"Wow that looks awesome!" Leonard said studying the little robotic arm.

"Unfortunately there are some bugs though. Sometimes some of the fingers don't move. Something with the internal wiring maybe, I'm taking it apart today if you want to come over and help." David said.

"I would, but I'm going over to Penny's house. To uh, help with chemistry." Leonard felt his face go a little hot.

"Penny? That hot blonde in my biology class?" David said.  
Roxanne glared at him.

"Uh, yeah I guess I really haven't noticed." Leonard couldn't have told a bigger lie ever.

"Dude, get your glasses fixed!" David said.

"Look, Penny's been my best friend ever since I can remember; I just don't see her like that. We're friends."

"Well, if she wants someone to see her like that just send her my way." David said grinning.

"David. You're a 92 pound 17 year old who builds robotic arms. I'm sure Penny will just be dying to go out with you." Leonard chuckled.

"Yeah yeah whatever!" David said laughing.

"Well anyways, you guys want to go get some food?" David said.

The final bell had just rang. The students poured out of the classroom. As Leonard was walking out of the door Dan bumped into him sending all his books and papers flying across the hall. He looked back and just kept on walking. Leonard sighed and bent down and started to pick everything up. Penny walked over and helped him get the last few papers.

"Did someone bump into you Leonard?" She said.

"Uh, yeah." Leonard said. He was furious at Dan.

"Wow, what a jerk, they never even helped you pick everything up."

"Tell me about it." Leonard said groaning.

"Well come on, my mom is probably outside." Penny motioned to the door.

Penny's mom was outside waiting for the two. They entered the car, Penny in the front Leonard in the back.

"Hello Mrs. Ryan." Leonard said.

"Hello Leonard! How are you today?"

"I'm fine thank you." Leonard smiled.

"How was school Penny?" Mrs. Ryan said.

"Schoolish." Penny responded obviously not wanting to converse with her mother.

The ride home was short. They never really talked much. They soon arrived at the Ryan residence. They went inside and straight up to Penny's room. Leonard walked in and there were clothes everywhere. Bras, underwear shirts, pants just sprawled out everywhere. Leonard seen some of Penny's bra's on the floor and he started to imagine her wearing it when she walked in with snacks in her hands.

"So, Leonard before we start I have something I want to tell you." Penny said laying the tray filled with potato chips and diet coke cans on the bed.

"Okay, um what's up?"

"Well you know Dan James? Well yeah I had lunch with him today and he was all like I think we should go out sometime. And then I was like yeah maybe and then I gave him my number and he's going to call some time. So I guess I kind of maybe have a date sometime, whenever Dan calls." Penny said trailing off.

Leonard tried his best to smile.

"That's great Penny." Leonard smiled.

The next couple of hours consisted of Leonard teaching Penny how to do energy level diagrams and how to balance equations.

"Alright. So the element symbol for potassium is K. It has 19 protons. The product of an energy level diagram is to display how many protons are in each level. So for potassium it would be 2 in the first level, 8 in the second, 8 in the third and 1 in the forth. Get it? Because 2+8+8+1 is 19, which is the number of protons in potassium."

"Oh okay! I get it now so if I were doing Sodium the element symbol is Na and there would be 2 in the first, 8 in the second and 1 in the third because sodium has 12 protons, right?" Penny said.

"Yes, exactly correct!" Leonard said smiling at Penny.

"Yay! I understand it." Penny said feeling accomplished.

"Only 8 pages to go!" Leonard chuckled.

Penny rolled her eyes at him.

Soon enough it was Friday night. The night Leonard had been long anticipating. Penny said she would come over around 8:30 pm and she would stay and watch Episode 6, then they were going to move onto the prequel trilogy. Leonard was ecstatic. He checked his watch. 8:35 on the dot. He checked again it was 9:00 he checked once more. 10:30. Leonard was puzzled. She was supposed to be here hours ago. He decided he could wait longer. Pretty soon it was 11:00. He decided that Penny was a no show. She was probably out having the time of her life with Dan James. Leonard felt upset about how Penny, his best friend could stand him up like this. She could of called and said she wasn't going to show, instead of leaving him hanging like this.

Leonard slipped out of his jeans and shirt and into his boxers. He threw back the covers and lay beneath them waiting for sleep. He was just about to doze off when he heard a tapping on his window. What the hell? He thought. He got up not even bothering to put pants or a shirt on. He looked out the window. There was Penny. She was throwing rocks at his window. She looked a little tipsy. Could she have been drinking? He opened the window just in time for a rock to accidently hit him in the head.

"OW! Damn it!" He said rubbing his head.

"Leonard!" Penny said slurring her speech majorly.

She was drunk. Very drunk.

"Penny? Are you okay?" Leonard said sounding concerned. He then realized he was just in his boxers

"Leonard, I'm drunk. I can't go home my mom will know." She could hardly stand up.

"Hold on, I'll be right down." Leonard said.

He quickly threw on a pair of jeans not even bothering with a shirt. He tiptoed out of his room and snuck out the door, being cafreful not to wake his mother, Beverly Hofstadter. He ran out to the back of the house to find a still very intoxicated Penny. She was wearing a short red dress. My, did she look beautiful Leonard thought.

"Penny, what happened?" Leonard said.

"I'm drunk." Penny said.

"I caught on to that much." Leonard said.

"Leonard look I need a place to stay if I go home my mom will kill me." Penny said slurring her speech.

"Sure, you can stay here. I'll get the air mattress." Leonard said.

"Leonard, no. I want to sleep in your bed. With you." Penny said.

Leonard's heart skipped a beat. Did she just really say that?

"Um, Penny are you sure? Your judgment is impaired right now." He said.

"No it's not I want to sleep with you in your bed." She said.

"Alright, come on let's get you into bed before you get sick." Leonard said gesturing for her to walk.

"Carry me, I don't think I can walk." Penny said.

Leonard moved closer to Penny. She put her arm around his neck and he picked her up. He put his hand underneath her to support her in his arms.

"Wow Leonard, you have a nice body!" She said while rubbing Leonard's stomach.

Leonard couldn't help but smile. He definitely felt something for Penny.

He carried her up the stairs into his room. He put her down on the edge of the bed.

"Uh, do you want to wear a pair of my boxers and a shirt? You can't sleep in that dress." He said.

"Sure I need help getting the dress off though."

Leonard couldn't believe what she was saying. Was he dreaming? He moved closer to her and slowly unzipped the dress, revealing a black lace bra. She slipped out of the dress and pretty soon she was just in her bra.

"I won't look." Leonard said.  
If he was sure of one thing, he was defiantly not gay.

He handed her a pair of his boxers and a shirt and turned around as she slipped them on. She still managed to look beautiful even in his old tee shirt and boxers. She started to cough, almost like she was going to throw up, but she stopped herself.

"Penny Ryan can hold her damn liquor, I know that much!" She said while wobbling.

Leonard chuckled.

"Uh, Penny it's time to go to sleep." He gestured to his bed.

Leonard helped a very intoxicated Penny into her bed. He was nervous. He kept thinking about what she had said. She had wanted to sleep with him. He wasn't sure if she had meant sleep with him or _sleep with him_. Penny was drunk; she suffered from impaired judgement and all the other effects of alcohol. He knew he couldn't let anything happen between the two. She would never forgive him. He had to do the right thing and just stop Penny. His lips ached to kiss hers once more again, like that very moment in grade 6.

Leonard was happy that Penny had come to his house. If she had of gone to Daniel James's house he would have surely taken advantage of Penny. She deserved better then Daniel James. She deserved a guy who would treat her right and not only want her for what was on the outside; her stunning looks. She deserved a guy who would see past her looks into the depth of her personality. Leonard knew that he was this guy. He only seen Penny's looks as a bonus.

"Leonard are you coming to bed?" Penny asked.

"Um, Penny you're drunk. I'll sleep on the couch or something." Leonard said with genuine concern.

"I want you to sleep here with me in case I get sick or something."

"Well, I guess I don't see any harm in that."

Leonard headed toward the bed where the beautiful blonde was laying in nothing but his boxer shorts and an old t-shirt. He lay down in the bed next to her. He slowly got under the covers. Penny was lying beside him. His heart was beating a mile a minute. Penny slowly edged her way over to him and snuggled into his arm. She looked up at him into his deep brown eyes and she pressed her lips against his. It took him a second to realize what was happening. She was kissing _him_! He put his arms around her neck and they shared a passionate kiss.

"Penny." He said slowly pulling away.

"Shhh." She leaned in and kissed him once more.

"I can't do this, Penny. You're drunk. I wouldn't feel right."

Leonard hated being the good guy. He wanted to kiss Penny so bad. He ached to kiss her. He wanted to lie with her all night and just tell her how beautiful she was, and exactly how much she meant to him. He didn't want to take advantage of Penny.

The rest of the night was quiet. Penny had passed out around 1:30am. She had passed out in Leonard's arms. He continued to hold her tightly, while he over analysed the nights events. Typical Leonard. He drifted off into an unsettling sleep while the gorgeous blonde was passed out on his chest, cuddling into him.

Leonard Hofstadter awoke early the next morning. Penny was still sleeping. He did his best to tip toe out of the bed room without waking her. He decided to make her toast and coffee. As he headed downstairs the previous night's events still in his head. It all seemed like a dream.

He popped two slices of bread in the toaster and just stared off into the abyss thinking about how he and Penny were going discuss the nights events. The toast popped out of the toaster. Leonard poured 2 cups of coffee and put it on a tray. He headed up stairs.

He started to think of possible thesis statements in his head. What would he say to Penny? For the first time in his life, Leonard Hofstadter did not know the answer to the situation he was facing. Where did he and Penny stand now? She had kissed him. She must have felt something for him.

He opened the door to his bedroom and he was met by Penny.

"Hey, Penny I made you-."

"Leonard look, I don't want to talk about this right now. Bye."

He watched as Penny stormed down the stairs. He felt his heart plunge. Why was she so angry? He never did anything wrong. He had only made her breakfast, and he stopped her from doing anything she would regret. Leonard did not understand this girl at all. She drove him crazy, but yet he wanted her more than anything.

The next day, after hours of contemplating, Leonard decided he would call Penny. He _needed_ to talk to her. He stood for about 10 minutes with the phone in his hand, afraid to press the numbers into the phone. It was atleast another 10 minutes before he decided he had the courage to dial the numbers.

"Hello?"

"Hello Mrs. Ryan. How're you? Is Penny there please?"

"I'm good Leonard thanks, and just one second.

He heard Mrs. Ryan scream out for Penny. The few seconds he waited for her to come to the phone seemed like an eternity to him. He really needed to hear her voice. He was going to ask her to hang out.

"Hello?"

"Um, hey Penny. It's Leonard." He was trembling.

"Hey Leonard. I'm sorry about earlier. I don't even know. I was just really upset."

Her voice sounded sincere to him. He felt warm inside.

"I'm sorry too."

"What the hell do you have to be sorry for? You helped me when I needed you. Most guys would have tried to take advantage of me."

"Well I'm not like most guys. I actually care about you." Leonard had just realized what he said.

"I mean I uh, care about you as a friend you know?"

"Yeah Leonard. I care about you too. As a friend. She quickly added in.

There was a silence between the two for a few seconds, when finally Penny broke it.

"Anyways I'm going to head over to Steph's. I'll see you around."

Click. She had hung up. Before Leonard even had a chance to say goodbye or see you later. He hated to admit it, but this bothered him greatly. Why hadn't she said goodbye? Was he overthinking again? Was something up? This all floated around in the mind of Leonard Hofstadter for the remainder of the night. He knew he needed to get his mind off Penny and everything that was happening. He decided to go over to David's to play some World Of Warcraft.

"LEONARD! What in Azeroth's name are you doing?" David yelled.

"You have to be the worst tank in the history of worst tanks. You're supposed to keep agro while I heal and while Roxanne gets the other mobs. We're trying to grind as many mobs as possible here, not get grinded by the mobs!"

"Huh? Oh sorry."

Leonard still had his mind on Penny. Even when he was grinding mobs on his level 85 Night Elf Blood Death Knight.

"Is something bothering you, Leonard?" Roxanne asked.

"Who cares if something's bothering him! We're in the middle of something! This is Warcraft not Oprah!" David said while bashing on the keyboard.

"Something is bothering me. But I don't know if I want to talk about it." Leonard said.

"Once again. This isn't Oprah!" David yelled.

Roxanne turned from her laptop screen towards Leonard.

"It's cool. I understand that. If you ever want to talk though I'm here for you." Roxanne said smiling at him.

Pretty soon, it was Monday again. This meant another long boring day of classes. At least he got to see Penny again. He waited for her at her locker, and after about 10 minutes before he was supposed to be in home room, there was no sign of her. She always stopped at her locker to talk before class. No sign of her anywhere. He watched as all the students poured into their homerooms. He shut his locker and headed into homeroom.

When there was 5 minutes left to homeroom before first bell rang, she showed up. She never took her usual seat, right next to Leonard's. Instead she sat on the other side of the classroom, with Daniel. He looked over as she sat down and they immediately started smiling and laughing together. What was so great about Daniel? He sure as hell didn't deserve a girl as amazing as Penny. He was a jerk.

The bell rang. Everyone poured to the door. Leonard watched as Daniel said ladies first to Penny and pointed to the door. He walked out of the classroom and headed to first period chemistry.

"Watch out looser." Daniel said shoving Leonard's books out of his hands.

Leonard watched as his stack of books and papers flew to the ground. How could Penny stand to even be under the same roof as this jerk? He bent down to pick up his books. He looked up to see Roxanne.

"What happened?" She said.

"Daniel bumped into me, no big deal." He said trying to hide his anger.

"Bumped into you on purpose? I seen him Leonard. What a jerk."

"Yeah, I mean it's probably nothing. Maybe he didn't know it was me." Leonard said.

"Where's Penny today?" She said.

"Um, I don't know. Somewhere. I have chemistry with her now so maybe I'll see her. The great thing is Daniel is too stupid to handle chemistry so I'll be free of him for a class." Leonard smiled.

He hoped he would at least see Penny in class. When he walked into the classroom, his usual seat which was just across from Penny, was taken. He frowned and fumbled to find" a seat. He sat next to David.

"Why aren't you sitting with blondie like usual?" David said.

"Well as you can see the seat is taken by Monica." Leonard said sarcastically.

"I caught on to that. I mean blondie usually saves that seat for you." David said.

"Yeah well not today I guess" Leonard said frowning.

"Are you okay dude? I mean the other night you weren't on your game when we were playing WoW and now you just don't seem like yourself."

"I'm fine." Leonard said.

The class dragged on. He looked up at Penny a few times. She was talking with Monica the whole time. She never even looked back at Leonard. It was really bothering him. Did he do something to Penny? Was she purposely avoiding him? He tried to tell himself not to overthink this. But how could one not overthink such a situation?

Chemistry dragged on. Leonard was zoned out in his world of overthinking everything. This was broke when the teacher called on him.

"Hofstadter, what's an empirical formula?"

"It's the simplest positive integer of atoms of each element present in a compound."

"Good. Now what's the empirical formula for N-hexane?

"N-hexane has 6 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms, so C6H14."

"Correct. Even though you know this stuff, please pay attention next time instead of zoning out."

Penny glanced at him for a quick second and the turned back to the conversation with Monica.

Pretty soon Leonard`s terrible day had ended. He stuffed his books in his locker. He couldn't wrap his mind around why Penny was acting so strange. They had been so close and now all of a sudden she was acting strange. Leonard Hofstadter may have a great understanding of biology, physics and chemistry but this girl was certainly something he did not understand.

He walked outside the school to discover it was pouring rain.

"What else could go wrong?" He practically screamed out.

He looked to his left and seen Penny riding shotgun in the front seat of Daniels crappy Toyota. He flew threw a puddle splashing water all over Leonard.

"I had to ask." Leonard mumbled.

He began his agonizing walk toward his house. He got as far as the main road when a car pulled up beside him. He looked to see. It was Roxanne.

She rolled down the window of the car.

"Get in! You'll freeze if you walk home!"

Leonard smiled. Roxanne was certainly a great friend to him. He got in her car and she turned the heat on blast to warm him up.

"Thanks Roxanne."

"Sure anytime Leonard. But I thought Penny usually gave you a ride home after school?"

"Yeah well she's obviously got more important things to do with Dan James." Leonard realized how bitter he sounded.

"Not that I care or anything. Penny and I are just friends."

"Leonard, it seems you have strong feelings for Penny." Roxanne added.

"That's crazy. We're just friends." He snapped.

"Sure, maybe you're just friends with her, but you can't deny that you don't love her."

"I don't love her, that's impossible."

"You do love her. You're just in denial because you're jealous of how she's spending time with Dan."

"I don't love Penny! I don't want her spending time with Dan because he's the biggest jerk I know and I don't want her to get hurt. I'm just a concerned friend!"

"Deny it all you want. Sooner or later you are going to have to admit it to yourself."

Roxanne dropped Leonard off at the Hofstadter home. All her could do is think of what Roxanne had said to him. _You do love her. You're just in denial because you're jealous of how she's spending time with Dan._ There's no way she could be right. Sure, he had feelings for Penny but he wasn't in _love _with her. Was he? Even if he was, he didn't have a chance. All she seemed to want is Dan; he could not wrap his mind around why she would want such a jerk.

It was soon Friday again. When Leonard went to his locker, there she was. Standing right there, waiting for him it seemed.

"Hey Leonard!"

She spoke as if they were talking all week long.

"Oh, hey Penny."

"What's up?" She was smiling at him.

"Oh nothing really. Just came from math. What about you?"

"I just had biology. Do you think you could come over after school today and help me with the stages of mitosis and meiosis?" She smiled sweetly at him.

"I guess." He said not even bothering to look at her.

"Is everything okay? I mean it feels like it's been a while since we talked-"

He cut her off in mid-sentence.

"Maybe because it's been like 4 days since we last talked." Leonard said in the bluntest way possible.

"I know Leonard, I'm really sorry. I've just been hanging out with Dan a lot. He's a really great guy. I think he might even ask me to the dance in a couple of weeks. I'm sorry if it seems like I've been ignoring you."

"That's great. No, it's fine really. So what time should I come over and help with biology?" Leonard really hoped she never discovered the hint of sarcasm in his voice. He sure as hell could not possibly love this girl. She made him want to pull his hair out.

"Thanks for understanding Leonard, you are the best! Come over like 4:30 or whatever." Penny said.

Leonard was just about to ask Penny to join him for lunch when Dan came up and whisked her away. The two walked down the hall laughing and talking.

Leonard showed up at her house at 5. He was at least happy that they were talking again. But he knew that he should warn her about Dan, the last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt.

She greeted him and they walked upstairs together. She smelled like vanilla oil and it was almost intoxicating to Leonard. Her biology books were spread out all across her floor.

"Penny before we start, can I talk to you about something?"

"Can it wait until you teach me about this meiosis and mitosis stuff?"

"Yeah sure, I guess so."

"Alright." She smiled at him.

"Okay, so there are basically 6 stages of Mitosis and Meiosis. Each stage is different for each, for example Anaphase is different in Meiosis then what it is in Mitosis. The stages are Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase.

After 2 hours of explaining the process and stages of Mitosis and Meiosis to Penny, Leonard knew he had to talk to her about Dan.

"So, do you get it now?"

"Yeah, it's a lot clearer now thanks Leonard!"

"So, what did you want to talk about earlier?" Penny said.

"Well it's um, kind of about Dan." Leonard said.

He watched Penny's smile turn to a confused face.

"What about Dan?"

"He's a jerk, Penny."

"What? How could you possibly think that? She frowned.

"The other day he pushed me and all my books out of my hand, he called me a looser, he splashed me with water the other day. He's a giant jerk."

"Leonard you obviously don't know Dan too well. He would never do anything like that. Trust me, I know him." Despite how furious she looked, she somehow managed to have a calm tone.

"Apparently you don't know him too well, because he's just a complete jerk, Penny." Leonard was firm.

"What the hell is your problem? I start spending some time with Dan and then you try and make me hate him. Well guess what? It's not going to happen, he's a great guy."

"I don't have a problem! I just don't want to see my best friend get hurt by some jerk."

"He's not a jerk! He's an amazing guy. You know what Leonard? Why do you even care?" Penny snapped at him.

Her words caught Leonard off guard for a second. _Why do you even care_? Why did he care? He couldn't even answer this question.

"I think I should go." He said as he got up and headed for the door.

She never even said goodbye to him. Why do you even care? Those words echoed through his head like crazy. It bothered him, mainly because he couldn't tell himself why he cared. He knew that one of the reasons was that he knew exactly what type of guy Daniel James is. He only saw Penny as a 'hot blonde' and nothing more.

The walk home had given Leonard some much needed time to clear his head and think. He felt like the jerk now. He knew he had upset Penny. He decided that he would call her tomorrow sometime. Waiting until tomorrow probably wasn't a good idea, but he knew that she needed some time to cool down.

The rest of Leonard's night consisted of tossing and turning. He was thinking about what Roxanne had said the other night, what if he really did love Penny? Maybe that's why he cares so much. It took hours of the night before he finally admitted to himself; he didn't want to see Penny with any other guy but him. He did in fact, love her. She was messy, strong headed, and she drove him absolutely crazy sometimes, but he loved her. There was no denying it anymore.

How could he possibly have a chance now? There were 2 things preventing him from the girl he loved. Daniel James, and Leonard's own idiocy. He just didn't want Penny with Daniel. He knew Daniel's type. Leonard wanted Penny with a nice guy, like himself, a guy who seen Penny not only for her gorgeous looks, but the real person underneath that. He knew exactly what he would do the next day, to make Penny forgive him.

Leonard woke up around 10am the next morning. He took the car down to Nebraska gift shop. He planned to get penny an 'I'm sorry' teddy bear, if they even existed. Leonard felt embarrassed about going up to the store clerk and asking if they had any 'I'm sorry' teddy bears. He spent 15 minutes or so before he decided to finally go and ask the silver haired old woman if they had what he was looking for.

"Um, this may sound really stupid to you, but do you possibly have any uh, I'm sorry teddy bears?" Leonard felt his face turn hot.

"Oh honey, when you're working here nothing sounds stupid. Just this morning a man came in looking for a card that said sorry I ran over your father with a tractor." The silver haired woman chuckled.

Leonard chucked.

"So, are you looking for a I'm sorry teddy bear for your girlfriend?"

"Well, um no not technically. Just a girl I really screwed up with."

The old woman smiled.

"It's never too late to go get her back. Do you love this girl?"

"Yes, I do."

Leonard felt pretty stupid for someone with a 5.0 gpa, he was spilling his problems to a woman who worked at a gift shop.

"You need to tell this girl you love her honey, before she finds someone else."

"That's the thing; I think she has found someone else. I fear I might be too late."

"It's never too late; I have just the teddy bear for you."

He watched as the silver haired woman disappeared into the back room for a second. Minutes later, she comes out carrying a medium sized brown teddy bear. In the bears arm was a small red heart with the words I'm sorry printed on it. It was exactly what he was looking for.

Leonard was parked on the right side of the road by Penny's house. He was going over what he would say to her. He looked in the car mirror to practice.

"Penny, I'm sorry for being a jerk. Here, I got this for you."

"Leonard you're such a looser." He said to himself frowning.

"Screw it, I'll just go in and whatever I say, I say, screw preparation.

He got out of the car and walked across the road to the Ryan residence. Pretty soon, he was facing the oak door with the numbers 212 on it.

He knocked 3 times, and stood there for a minuite.

The door opened, it was Penny, she was wearing her signature shorts and tank top.

"Leonard?" She sounded surprised.

Leonard had the teddy bear behind his back.

"Yeah it's me. Can we talk?"

"I guess."

She stepped out on the porch and closed the door.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a jerk, I know I shouldn't have said those things about Daniel. I guess I just didn't want you to get hurt, I was just trying to protect you, but that was wrong of me, because you're free to date anyone you want, and if you want I get to know Daniel better before saying things."

They just stood in silence for a minute.

"Thank you Leonard. I appreciate the apology. Thank you for caring about me and being a good friend too."

"Oh yeah, I um, got you this."

He took the teddy bear from behind his back.

She leaned into him and hugged him.

Leonard immediately started counting the Mississippi's.

1,2,3,4,5.

The standard hug was 2 Mississippi's.

Even a genius like Leonard Hofstadter, could not wrap his mind around why she had hugged him for that long.

"Leonard, that was extremely sweet of you." Their faces were inches from each other's.

He wanted to lean in and kiss her. He _wanted_ to, there was also a big difference in doing and wanting to do. Their moment was suddenly interrupted.

"Penny, come on we're leaving to go to the mall now." Her mother yelled.

"Yeah I'm coming!"

"Thanks allot Leonard."  
She took the bear from him and shut the door.

He realized that he had forgotten to ask her to hang out tonight.

"God damn" he said out loud.

Leonard went home and sat around pondering the 5 Mississippi hug. It baffled him. 2 Mississippi's being the standard hug. He tried to not overthink it. But somehow, his mind kept coming back to it.

He waited until 5 o'clock that evening before calling Penny and asking her to hang out.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Leonard."

"Hey Leonard! What's up?"

"What are your plans for tonight?"

There was silence for almost 60 full seconds.

"Um, well I'm going to visit my grandmother in the hospital. She's sick."

"Oh god, what's wrong with her?"

There was another almost 60 second pause.

"They don't know it could be bad though."

Penny almost sounded like she was questioning herself, it seemed odd to Leonard.

"I'm sorry Penny, if you need anything you know where I'll be."

"Thanks a lot Leonard."

He could of swore he heard a male laughing in the background and Penny shushing him.

"Got to go, see ya, Leonard."

Click. She was gone.

Surely Penny must be upset about her Grandmother. If he was to win Penny from Daniel, he had to be there for her whenever she needed him. He devised a plan. He would visit Penny and her Grandmother at the Nebraska hospital. He would bring flowers for both of them. She would love that.

He walked down to the Omaha Nebraska floral shop.

The florist helped him pick out 2 perfect bouquets of flowers. Penny was going to love them, and her grandmother too!

He walked out of the floral shop. He decided to walk to the hospital, seeing it was only about a 8 minute walk away from the floral shop. Penny's house was along the walk to the hospital as well, maybe he would see her and give her the flowers.

Leonard walked past Penny's house only to see Daniel James walking out dressed up in a striped shirt and Penny wearing a blue dress.

He ducked into the nearby bush so they wouldn't see him. He could hear their voices getting closer to his position.

"Finally, our first date." Daniel said.

"I know right!" Penny sounded like she could hardly contain her excitement.

Leonard felt his heart plunge right out of his body.

He watched through the bush as they got into the car and drove off.

Penny's Point Of View.

Penny felt like complete shit. She had lied to one of the sweetest guys who just happened to be her best friend of 17 years. She should have just told him the truth; she was going on a date with Dan James. But then again, if she told Leonard that, he would be mad at her, because he thought Dan was a jerk. The worst thing was, she brought her grandmother in this stupid lie. Dan seemed to notice how Penny was distracted and staring off into the abyss.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Oh nothing, just thinking." She said,

"About me I bet."

The exact opposite of you actually, she thought to herself. She was thinking about Leonard. How he had bought her an I'm sorry bear, how he was always there when she needed him. Like the time when Jennifer had spread a rumor about Penny, which turned a few people against her. But Leonard, he was always there. Through thick and thin. He was a true friend to her.

"I'm assuming your silence means a yes. Dan said.

"Maybe." Penny said.

Dan turned on his signal light and drove into the restaurant parking lot.

They walked in and got seated.

Penny was feeling even more worse about the situation about now.

"You look hot tonight." Dan said.

"What about me I bet I look even hotter." Dan said.

All Penny could think was WOW. Leonard wouldn't of called her "hot" he would call her something more meaningful. Like the time she had to get braces in the 9th grade, Leonard told her she would look beautiful no matter what, even if she had a bag over her head.

Penny kept trying to get her mind off Leonard, but she couldn't. Why was she thinking about him so much? She was finally on a date with Dan James. She was pretty sure she was falling for Dan, but actually being on a date with him was much different. She knew she wasn't falling for Dan. But who was she falling for? It couldn't possibly be Leonard. He was her best friend, not her boyfriend, and she certainly was not in falling in love with him.

"Penny? Are you going to order?" Dan said.

He broke Penny's thoughs.

"Oh yeah and order something cheap, I'm a little low on funds."

"I'll have the-"

Dan interrupted her before she could finish.

"I'll have the large steak dinner, and for the lady a salad."

The waiter walked away with their orders.

"I don't even like steak." Penny frowned.

"I know, you can have some of mine. I promise, things will get better after dinner." Dan said.

Penny forced a smile at Dan. But all she could think was like hell they'll get better. A plane crash would be better than this date. Dan was being obnoxious.

When their food arrived, Dan chowed down on the steak like there was no tomorrow. Penny picked at her salad.

"Dan, can I ask you something?"

"You want to kiss me? Wait until we're done eating." He laughed loudly.

"Um.. Anyways, what do you think of Leonard?"

"You mean LeNERD? He's the biggest dork I know."

"How can you say that? Leonard's awesome."

"He's such a looser though. I mean he watches Star Wars and plays video games like 24 7."

"I'll have you know Star Wars is one of the greatest trilogy's on this earth." Penny was getting furious now.

"I thought you were cool Penny, I never thought you were just as a big nerd as LeNERD." Dan laughed obnoxiously.

"You're right. Wanna make out?" She said.

"I thought you'd never ask, no one can resist the Dan man!"

She leaned in to kiss him.

"Close your eyes, I want this to be a special one." She said.

What Dan never saw was Penny with the bowl of salad aimed at his head.

Needless to say, Daniel James walked out of the restaurant wearing Penny's 20$ bowl of salad over his head.

Penny went to call for a ride back home. She dialed her parents' house, but there was nobody home.

"Dammit, who can I call?" She thought to herself.

Then it hit her. Who was always there for her when she needed him? Leonard Hofstadter.

She punched the numbers into her phone.

Leonard's Point Of View.

Leonard lay on his bed, he didn't even know what to think or feel right now. How could she lie to him? Why couldn't she just of told him she was going out with Daniel? He began to think it was somehow his fault, from the previous night of him pissing off Penny by telling her Daniel was a jerk. Maybe that's why she lied to him. He was the idiot;the one that he should be mad at.


End file.
